Connectors, in particular heavy duty industrial connectors, are designed especially for use in particularly harsh environments. Such industrial connectors normally comprise a housing having a base part and a plug-in part, the plug-in part being connectable to the base part. Inside the housing at least one contact element is arranged, which can be formed of two or more contact inserts, at least one contact insert being arranged in the base part and at least one contact insert being arranged in the plug-in part respectively and when the base part is connected to the plug-in part, the corresponding contact inserts can be electrically connected to one another. It is normally provided for the housing to be formed of a metal, for example in the form of a the cast metal part, the housing being able to offer reliable protection for the contact inserts against environmental influences. Industrial connectors are used, for example, in the automotive industry, in machinery and plant engineering, in conveyor systems as well as in measurement and control technology and, depending on the application, can have contact inserts with, for example, 6 to 108-pin construction.
The contact inserts and the contact element are connected to at least one cable, it being possible to insert the cable into the housing through a cable gland. The cable can also be formed as a flexible hose, for example in the form of a compressed air hose when pneumatic modules are used as the contact inserts. In the process, the cable can only ever be mounted on the housing at a specific angle. It can therefore happen in particular in confined installation conditions that the electrical cable is buckled when inserted into the connector and therefore damaged such that it has to be replaced by another cable.